Auto Insurance Claims: insurance wont budge, mechanical issues, minimal value

Question
Hello,
I was wondering if you can help me. My car was hit by a drunk driver while it was parked in front of my house. A total of 5 vehicles where involved. The driver rear ended an SUV and the SUV smashed into a scooter and the scooter got smashed into my car and my car bumped into the car in front of me. I got an estimate just for the body work of my car (mechanical issues not included) which came out to be almost three thousand dollars. The insurance company ran the "value" of my vehicle based on similar vehicles in my area and told me that it's worth seventeen hundred dollars. Their settlement is either I take seventeen hundred and keep the car or they'll give me two thousand and I have to give up the vehicle. I found out that if I did repairs on my car in the past half a year, then the insurance is supposed to reimburse me for that also. I sent them some receipts for repairs that were done on my car recently (transmission and starter) totaling almost fifteen hundred dollars. At first they started saying that regular maintenance repairs don't count. When I told them that it had nothing to do with maintenance they added a hundred to the two thousand that they were already offering me saying that they reran everything and thats what my car is worth. Today I received a detailed letter of how my car was evaluated. Half of the things that are described in there are complete crap. Their "typical" vehicle is supposed to have cracks and holes almost everywhere. My car is no where near that condition. It has no rust or holes or cracks anywhere. I've been arguing with them for almost 3 months now and I'm running out of ideas of how to deal with them. Please Help.  

Answer
Hi Elena,
In all areas that I am familiar with, the transmission and starter would be considered normal maintenance.  The fact that they were newer would only add minimal value to your car, not the amount that you actually paid for the repairs.  The two items that you mentioned usually only have a 90 day warranty.
Before making you a settlement offer, the insurance company hired an independent company to survey your area for cars of like kind and condition.  That survey presented a question to the dealers that was worded somewhat in the following manner:
"Do you have a car of this make, model condition, equipment and mileage in stock?  If so what is your lowest 'willing to sell for' price.  If you don't have this car, what would be your lowest 'willing to sell for' price if you had such a car?"
The insurance company was provided a list of about 20 cars showing the actual equipment and mileage or what the dealer would sell for if he had such a car.  They should be willing to provide you a copy of this list and you can go and look at the available cars.
If the cars on their list are not comparable to yours, then you need to visit at least 5 dealers and get their lowest 'willing to sell for' price if they have the car in stock, or what their price would be if they had such a car.  Get this in writing from the dealers
with the dealership name and date.
If the 5 quotes on your list are higher than the offer being made by the insurance company, you will now have documentation to negotiate with the insurance company for a higher price for your car.
I hope this information has been of help.
Your feedback by rating my answer will be appreciated.
Sincerely,
Bennie
San Francisco Bay Area